Napa Valley: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Wine grapes were introduced to California in the 1760s by Father Junípero Serra, who planted the so-called 'Mission' variety (a descendant of Sardinian vines brought to North America by the Conquistadors) at the San Diego Mission. In those days, California was still a sleepy Mexican province. But then, in 1846, a ragtag group of mostly American adventurers got drunk on the local wine in the town of Sonoma. Inspired by American independence and Californian wine, they seized the government (in the person of the commandant, General Vallejo) and declared an independent republic. To show that there were no hard feelings, they invited the general to a drink. Then they locked him in the hoosegow (jail) and raised the Bear Flag on the plaza, where a monument to the glorious and wine-soaked deed stands today.

European vines were first introduced by Hungarian count Ágoston Haraszthy, who established a commercial vineyard in Sonoma Valley in 1857 and is credited with founding California's modern wine industry. By the late 1860s there were already 50 vintners in the Sonoma and Napa valleys. Unfortunately, things started to go badly for wine growers later in the century, when they suffered a double assault from cheap imports and diseased vine roots, caused by the deadly root louse phylloxera , which is native to the central and eastern United States.

Modern History

The wine business was still stumbling from these attacks when Prohibition was enacted in 1919, forcing the closure of all but a handful of vineyards dedicated to the production of sacramental wines. Prohibition ended in 1933, but it was not until the 1960s that wine production regained its momentum.

The wine produced in the Napa Valley received a crucial vote of confidence at the famous 1976 blind-tasting competition in France. Before then, traditional wine-growing regions of the world viewed California wines with ambivalence at best, disdain at worst. However, when a Napa cabernet (the 1973 Stag's Leap) bested four top-ranked French wines at this historic blind tasting, things changed radically - much to the consternation of the French. Today, a breath-taking variety of wines is produced in Napa Valley and Sonoma, and is enjoyed by tipplers across the globe.

Recent History

In recent years the region's wineries have helped fuel an industry that contributes billions annually to the Californian economy. It has continued to produce wine that has earned the area the title of America's premium wine-producing area; Napa Valley is easily among the world's most famous wine regions. Its wine industry has attracted investment from some of Europe's most famous names, although currently corporate mergers and acquisitions threaten to push out the small farmers and family-owned wineries on which the famous Napa - and to a lesser extent Sonoma - names were built.

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